The NYPD used a $3 million counterterrorism plane to shuttle Mayor Bill de Blasio back and forth from his Canada vacation to the Big Apple for an event Thursday, The Post has learned. Hizzoner, who is in Quebec on a weeklong respite, briefly flew back to the Bronx for a memorial for slain Detective Miosotis Familia. “NYPD is transporting him in their plane,” de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips told The Post. “Their plane” is a Cessna 208 Caravan that cost roughly $3 million and was picked up by the department in 2017, sources said. The high-tech aircraft is outfitted with...

Transportation to and from a lavish vacation hideout is a far cry from counterterrorism WHEW! The first breath of fresh air this morning for all those who sweltered through the 11-day straight extreme heat wave—but no thanks to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, vacationing in Quebec where 33 people died. Vacationing in air-conditioned luxury, Hizzoner de Blasio ignored both the killer heat wave, and the massive carbon footprint caused by his ride from his Canada vacation spot to the Bronx for a brief memorial appearance on a $3 million counterterrorism plane.

The number of illegal border crossers in Canada will soon surpass the 25,000 Syrian refugees Canada accepted in 2016 In this Aug. 7, 2017 file photo, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer informs a migrant couple of the location of a legal border station, shortly before they illegally crossed from Champlain, N.Y., to Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec, using Roxham Road. Authorities say more than 80 percent of the 4,000 migrants who crossed into Quebec recently are from Haiti, and the rest include people from India, Mexico, Colombia and Turkey.AP Photo/Charles Krupa, There are so many Mounties needed to process illegal border crossings...

The number of illegal border crossers in Canada will soon surpass the 25,000 Syrian refugees Canada accepted in 2016 There are so many Mounties needed to process illegal border crossings in rural Quebec that the federal government is now spending $250,000 to build an unofficial police station on the U.S. border. In Toronto last week, Mayor John Tory announced that the number of refugee claimants in the city’s shelter system has quadrupled from 459 per night in 2016 to an average of 2,351 in 2018. And at least one Quebec politician is calling for a border fence with the U.S....

When I wrote about the upsurge in illegal immigration to Canada last month, I noted that the government was forced to spend nearly $200 million on increased border patrols. That came as thousands of new migrants came across the border each month to claim asylum. Today the Globe and Mail reports that the Candian province of Quebec is asking the federal government to chip in to help deal with the wave of migrants which is on track to nearly double the number that came across the border last year: The number so far this year has tripled to 6,074...

In an open letter published in La Presse on Tuesday, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer invited Quebecers to give his party another look, citing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “incompetence” and the “existential crises” crippling the Bloc Québécois. The Conservatives spy an opportunity in Quebec. And given the party’s growing support in the province, they might be right. Quebec was the only province in which the Conservatives made gains in the 2015 federal election. Their increase in the popular vote there was modest — just 0.2 percentage points, up to 16.7 percent — but their seat haul jumped by seven to 12,...

The Canadian province of Quebec has passed a sweeping ban on face coverings – barring public workers from wearing the niqab or burqa and obliging citizens to unveil when riding public transit or receiving government services – ushering in a law believed to be the first of its kind in North America. The legislation was adopted on Wednesday, capping off two years of work by the province’s Liberal government to address the issue of state neutrality. The resulting law has been condemned by critics who say it deliberately targets Muslim women and will fuel the province’s simmering debate on identity,...

A standoff between far-right groups and anti-fascist protesters along the Canadian side of the U.S. border forced police to temporarily shut down the crossing near St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que., on Saturday. A separate anti-illegal immigrant rally on Parliament Hill, held amid heightened concerns about the arrival of asylum seekers, also provoked a handful of skirmishes, as riot police stepped in to prevent physical violence. Roughly 300 members of the Storm Alliance — a group that identifies as "ultranationalist," and claims to eschew ties to far-right white nationalists — arrived at the border crossing near Lacolle, where thousands of migrants have crossed into...

California on Friday expanded its market for buying and trading permits to emit greenhouse gases to include the Canadian province of Ontario. The market is the centerpiece of California’s cap-and-trade program, which aims to reduce carbon pollution over time by capping emissions and requiring companies to obtain permits to pollute. Quebec is already part of the market. California is aiming to reduce emissions by 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. The two Canadian provinces have similar or stricter goals. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the agreement Friday in Quebec at a meeting with officials of both provinces, capping off...

Multiple asylum seekers crossing the border from the United States into the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec have been caught in the possession of child pornography. The Quebec town of St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, which lies on the border with New York state, has seen an influx of thousands of asylum seekers from the United States in recent weeks. The Canadian Border Sevices Agency (CBSA) has reportedly caught “four or five” asylum seekers originally from Haiti possessing sexual material involving children, Canadian broadcaster Global News reports. The issue has sparked CBSA Assistant Director Daniel St-Arnaud to put out a memo to border agents which provides guidance...

The FBI is investigating as an "act of terrorism" a knife attack on a Michigan airport police officer Wednesday by a man yelling "Allahu Akbar." The stabbing at Bishop International Airport, in the city of Flint, comes amid a wave of jihadist-inspired attacks in Europe, most recently a foiled bomb assault at a train station in Belgium. US officials identified the suspected assailant, who is in custody and cooperating with investigators, as a 49-year-old Canadian resident from Quebec named Amor Ftouhi. "We're investigating this incident today as an act of terrorism," FBI special agent David Gelios told a news conference,...

A driver who used wooden logs and chicken wire to reinforce his vehicle’s suspension was ticketed and had his car impounded by police following a traffic stop in west Quebec. The MRC des Collines police said they pulled the 1999 Toyota Tercel over on Sunday at about 10:45 p.m. on route du Carrefour in Val-des-Monts after noticing the car didn’t have working brake lights. After pulling the car over, they discovered that the 28-year-old driver had no proof of insurance and an open beer in the front seat, police said. A closer inspection of the car also revealed that three...

The comments come following a TVA investigation that revealed four airport employees had their security clearance revoked as a precautionary measure due to concerns they were becoming radicalized. According to the report, at least one had access to runways and had been the subject of a police investigation. One suggested committing an attack similar to the one in Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people, while another shared ISIS propaganda on his Facebook page. Two of the four employees still work at the airport, according to TVA. Pharand confirmed the people referenced in the report had their security badges withdrawn...

A majority of Quebecers oppose the idea of welcoming more immigrants to Canada, a new survey suggests. A poll conducted by SOM for Cogeco Nouvelles and published Wednesday suggests that 55 per of respondents think Canada shouldn’t accept more immigrants in the wake of anti-immigration measures announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, while 36 per cent are in favour of welcoming more immigrants and nine per cent are undecided. The survey also found that 75 per cent of the 1,010 respondents polled online are in favour of tightening surveillance on Canada’s borders to prevent the arrival of illegal immigrants. Meanwhile,...

A Surrey, B.C.-based helpline for Muslim women has been flooded with calls following President Trump's executive order on immigration, and a shooting in a Quebec city mosque. Nisa, an Arabic word for women, is a free, confidential helpline offering counseling services to Muslim women all across Canada and the U.S. Director Tanweer Ebrahim said this week has been particularly difficult for the Muslim community. â€‹"People are scared of the repercussions the ban will bring, and also after the Quebec shooting, people are frightened," she said. She said Muslim women can feel particularly vulnerable in public places. "Muslim women can easily...

On Sunday night six people were massacred and a number of others wounded when a man opened fire with an automatic weapon in a mosque in Quebec City. Initial reports quoted witnesses as saying that there were multiple gunmen, and that they shouted “Allahu Akhbar” as they fired into the crowd. By the following morning, however, the Narrative had completely shifted: there was only one attacker, a white Quebecois; the other man who had initially been arrested (named Mohamed) had morphed into a witness. The legacy media immediately discovered “likes” for Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen on the accused...

The French Canadian university student charged with killing six Muslim men during evening prayers at a mosque was known for far-right, nationalist views and his support of the French rightist party led by Marine Le Pen. Alexandre Bissonnette was charged Monday with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder over the shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque that Canada's prime minister called an act of terrorism against Muslims. Bissonnette made a brief court appearance and did not enter a plea in the attack staged during evening prayers Sunday. Wearing a white prisoner jump suit, his...

Alexandre Bissonnette has been accused of killing six people and wounding eight others in a “barbaric” massacre Sunday night at a Quebec City mosque, TVA News reports. The 27-year-old entered the Centre Culturel Islamique de Quebec and opened fire with a rifle, shooting members of the mosque as they prayed, police and witnesses say. He is in police custody and was being questioned Monday morning. He has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder, the Toronto Star reports. Friends and those who knew him online said he had extreme political beliefs, but was...

U.S. President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the aftermath of the Quebec City mosque attack on Monday, promising to support Canadian police “in any way necessary,” the White House said. Trump passed along condolences for the attack, which killed at least six at the Centre culturel islamique de Quebec on Sunday night. While Trudeau was “extremely appreciative,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, he also careful about drawing conclusions on motives behind the shooting. “The president shared those thoughts,” Spicer said....